David George Haskell on the Forest Unseen

Biologist and professor at the University of the South, David George Haskell set himself an unusual task for one year:  to examine a one-square-meter patch of biologically diverse old-growth Tennessee forest nearly every day and record his observations.  He writes about his experiment in contemplative science in a book of essays:  "The Forest Unseen:  A Year's Watch in Nature."  Biologist E.O. Wilson says the book represents "a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry."